Archive for April 15th, 2010

“SAN FRANCISCO, US – Google Inc on Thursday reported that its profit rose nearly 37 percent in the first quarter of this year”

China is pretty pissed about this right now. They still consider, to a great extent, that they are the center of the universe and thus Google dunning them was such a smack in the face- which it was. So, it may make some happy to see that Google is still doing ok.

Read the results of a poll by Remnin University, Chinese have a more permissive attitude about sex. Maybe that is why the ruling communist party is so worried about pornography. They are afraid that with all of these people, and uncontrolled libidos, there would be utter chaos. Chaos compared to what they have now….

“Back to 2005: a recent poll finds young Chinese have their first sexual experience at the average age of 17.4, almost 9 years earlier than the norm when their grandparents were making their first steps in the same field. Beijing Renmin Univeristy conducted the poll, which encompasses 2,252 respondents in seven major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guanzhou, and Xi’an. The poll also found increasingly permissive attitudes, with 1 in 5 respondents approving of premarital sex.”

I am no statistician, nor mathematician, but neither am I dense. I have noticed a strong correlation between my undergoing an intense workout and subsequently developing lung problems. The other week, I began to run again, and quickly thereafter developed a horrible cold and lung infection. This is one of the China costs.

1. Linfen, China

Type of Pollution: Coal

Source of Pollution: Industrial and Automotive Emissions

Linfen, China is not only the most-polluted city in China, but also the world. It includes many coal mines. Although legal coal mines create a lot of pollution, it is the city’s illegal coal mines that do the most damage, since they do not follow anti-pollution regulations. The city’s air is constantly soiled with burning coal.

2. Tianying, China

Type of Pollution: Lead and heavy metals

Source of Pollution: Mining and Processing

Tianying accounts for more than 50 percent of China’s total lead production. Because there are not many standards that regulate lead production in China, a lot of lead ends up in the city’s soil and water. Ultimately, the lead ends up in the bloodstream of children. Lead has been shown to decrease IQ in children.

“One cold but sunny autumn day, a young white-collar worker in Shanghai received an anxious phone call from his family. The authorities were requisitioning their farmland for development.

Wang Shuai believed the scheme was illegal, but officials refused to discuss it. He tried journalists, but they thought his story both too common and too sensitive. That was when he turned to the internet.

“It was the choice of having no choice,” he said. “But I had read complaints about injustices on the net before and I knew some cases had worked out. There were reports like officials who used public money for holidays; when they appeared, the nation began investigating.”

The authorities had launched an “anti-drought initiative” which included chopping down fruit trees – conveniently allowing them to slash compensation to families turfed off the land.

“Great tactics for fighting drought in Ningbao village!” Wang headlined his post. Underneath, he added pictures of the tree stumps.

It would indeed grab attention; but not quite as he had expected. Wang’s story exemplifies the growing power of the internet in China: the airing of grievances; the ability to reach a wider audience; the use of satire to discuss serious topics.

While China has the world’s most sophisticated internet censorship system, it also has almost 400 million internet users – at least some of whom are challenging those restraints with increasing boldness. Controls mean that almost everyone self-censors to some degree. But some have used the variations and gaps in the system to stake out spaces where they can find or share viewpoints that are not officially sanctioned.

In fact, the internet is arguably more important than in other countries since the mainstream media is still more firmly controlled. The Chinese have even invented a word – “wangmin” or “netizen” – that captures this sense of the internet as a space for social and political discussion.

Firstly, to give this article context, the Chinese hate the Japanese, I mean it is like a mania. Irrespective of the age of the Chinese, they have an intense hatred for the country and its people. So, Japan is trying to get a seat on the UN security council, and China doesn’t like this, they point to Japans history with China ( with China’s dismal human rights record, it is amazing that they do!) China points out the atrocities committed by Japan in the rape of Nanjing, and one of these was sex slavery of Chinese women. The Chinese state that the proof of this slavery should preclude the Japanese from being on the council (funny digression is that apparently the historical atrocities and those still committed by China were overlooked.

So some guy in some province finds some ‘proof’ of a ticket for sex slaves during WW@ and wants to use this against Japan. Call me skeptical, but China’s record of credibility when it comes to reporting anything is abysmal, so I wouldn’t put it past them to have fabricated it themselves, all in the name of stopping Japan.

xinhuanet

“A tiny piece of paper is the latest evidence in the battle for truth over Sino-Japanese history. Japanese soldiers have allegedly used the small voucher, found in China’s Hebei province, as a “sex-ticket” during World War II. The recent discovery comes in good time to support China’s efforts to expose atrocities committed by the Japanese Imperial army during the war, and prevent Japan from scoring a permanent seat in the United Nation’s Security Council. According to Xinhua, the Chinese Government’s official news agency, the voucher would be “hard evidence rebutting Japanese government’s claim of the absence of sex slaves during World War II”.

A Hebei resident found the voucher inside a box of Japanese-made fragrant powder while going through a collection of wartime items left to him by his father. According to Xinhua, the Imperial Japanese army flag and the characters for “The Sixth Sex Slave Centre” and “Yinglou Building” are still visible on the 60-year-old voucher.

Interestingly, the constitution of the People’s Republic of China, PRC, does not explicitly state that the communists rule the country, the relationship is more tangentially associated. But, in China, the communist party does rule, and in matters of security etc. it rules with an iron fist.

“ the CPC’s position as the supreme political authority and power in the PRC is realized through its control of all state apparatuses and of the legislative process.[2]” from wiki